Three months after the position remained vacant, capital market regulator SEBI approved Praveena Rai’s appointment as the Managing Director and CEO of MCX, the country’s largest commodity exchange.
Rai was the COO of NPCI (National Payment Corporation of India) and was in charge of formulating and deploying the marketing, business development, product management, and operations strategy.
She was driving product penetration, reach and visibility of NPCI’s offerings through suitable partnerships.
With over 20 years of extensive experience, Rai has built expertise in various facets of payments, cards, retail, transaction, wholesale and commercial banking.
Prior to joining NPCI, she led the cash management portfolio at Kotak Mahindra Bank, which is, incidentally, the largest shareholder of MCX.
Earlier, Rai managed payments for Asia Pacific and was the Head of sales at HSBC. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Communication and a postgraduate degree from IIM-Ahmedabad.
The former chief of the exchange, PS Reddy, stepped down on May 9 after completing his five-year term. Though eligible, he did not offer himself for the second term.
In the absence of MD & CEO, the exchange operations are currently overseen by a special executive committee consisting of a CRO (regulatory officer), CTO (technology officer), CBO (business officer) and COO (operating officer) in the absence of MD & CEO
The previous Head of MCX, Reddy had an eventful tenure of seeing the exchange through the Covid pandemic when crude oil prices for the first time tanked to negative values. Braving many obstacles, he ensured the exchange transitioned to new software vendor TCS from its former promoter 63 Moons in October last year.